I saw this movie in a festival 14 years ago. I was so disappointed and after all this time, I have not found a worst movie since... There are bad movies out there, that turn good again for their goofiness of silliness, but not this one. I love John Turturro, and he did not perform badly. He was simply mismanaged. The story is really poor, and the storytelling poorer. The suppose plot-twist we can see it coming after 30 minutes, and when it happens, it is the gunshot that wakes you up form the seat. Literally. The whole movie theater was sleeping, and that gunshot woke them up. The director had ideas and notions of grandeur that were lost in the most slow-paced movie I've seen, followed with uninteresting and disconnected cinematic tricks... Save yourself the from being woken up by an uncomfortable loud sound, and check something else.

This movie was so lame its as if the director had never seen a psychological thriller in his life. The only saving graces were Turturo's performances and the cinematography which elevated it to my 2 star rating. To me it seemed like it was a rehash of bits and pieces of good films and when put together in this ended up like a bowl of vomit. This story could have been told in 90 seconds not the 90 grueling minutes and 4 attempts it took to watch. Luckily it only went for 90 minutes any longer would have had me throwing my remote control at my TV.Anyway since I have to write 10 lines I may as well use them to talk about the AFL Grand Final this Saturday... I believe it will be a very close game between The Geelong cats and The Port Adelaide Power.... Port beat Geelong when last they met but and also have the advantage of fielding many premiership players, whereas Geelong are new to the Grand Final experience. The cats handled themselves OK against the magpies last week in what was a terrific rehearsal for this game but at times looked slow and just their maturity got them over the line... my heart tells me to go for the Cats to win this but my head indicates otherwise... Im tipping The Power by 11 points.

Harry Caine (John Turturro) is obsessed with finding his wife's murderer. Haunted by memories and hallucinations, Harry spends his spare time pouring over surveillance tapes from the scene of the murder - the mall where he is employed as a security guard. A vision of his late wife straying across the road to the neighbour eventually leads him there. Once inside the unoccupied house, he finds a strip of film, has it developed, and begins a quest to find the woman in one of the photographs. The search leads him to a small town and a confrontation with the man who killed his wife.Writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn makes it halfway through this tale before pouring on all the is this really happening? nonsense. Is Harry nuts? Is it all in his head? Has he concocted these events as a way of finally coming to grips with his grief? The first half hour or so of the film is somewhat intriguing. The second dull and absurd, not to mention old hat. If there actually is a conspiracy, well, that's been done to death. If it's all in Harry's head, well, that's been done several times already- by filmmakers with real talent.Musically, Brian Eno's ambient and atmospheric work was a highlight . He's wheeled out and dusted off the Yamaha DX7 synth. The piece played during credits/watching surveillance tapes exactly the same as the very beginning of U2's 'Where the streets have no name'. Oh well you can't beat a rock classic.In summary (1) there is no universally-accepted interpretation of the ending – even the director is lost on this one "It depends on how I feel that day. And of course that pisses off a lot of people because they're not used to a film without an ending. But what the f**k is an ending, you know?". And (2) I was actually hoping for a DVD directors commentary from Refn - I'd love to hear him try to justify this mess.

This film takes a few viewings, and you will still be puzzling over the theme. John Turturro is Harry Cain, a mall security guard mourning the death of his wife.The film is very visual (the hotel in Montana was filmed by a renowned Kubrick photographer) Some scenes are ominous, and may remind you of "The Shining". The winter environment, Harry's work as an anonymous security guard, all seem to infer his alienation from reality. Also the house across the street, which he begins to fixate on, believing he saw his wife go into the house. Is he hallucinating, or is this really happening?.The film starts slow, but is suspenseful and atmospheric. If you like psychological drama, you will truly enjoy this film. 9/10